Curses...

[BBTV]

Pittsburgh Pirates - the curse of not being able to sell out playoff games. The baseball gods don't like that!

[BigEd76]

That being said, I thought it was a great idea when they put the little 4" Billy Penn replica statue on the top steel beam of Comcast Center. Hey... it can't hurt!

"Curse" of William Penn

Lifting the "curse"

and since they did that, the Soul won the Arena Bowl and the Phils are 3 innings away from a World Series title (plus the Flyers went from the worst team in the NHL to game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals). Coincidence?

[DEAD!]

Milwaukee Brewers - Curse of Bud - ' Nuff said.

The only "Curse of Bud" is that the Brewers were the best-run organization in baseball when Bud ran the show. Starting with the day he became Interim Commish, his daughter started running it into the ground.

You mean the Curse of the Ball And Glove - until they bring that logo back, the Brewers will never win another pennant. Just look - bringing it back just part time, they won the Wild Card.

But, they still haven't won it all... so in the mean time, I say it's the curse of the Seattle Pilots.

[tp49]

Pittsburgh Pirates - the curse of not being able to sell out playoff games. The baseball gods don't like that!

The same could be said for the Braves.

[Gary]

I would say for the Tigers it's the Curse of the "Illitch" When Mike Illitch bought the Tigers in 1992, the Tigers went from at least respectable to one of the worst teams in many years. With him as owner the Tigers will never win the World Series

[TFoA]

I wouldn't say that the Braves are cursed...more like back to normal after a ridiculous decade and a half.

[BrySmalls]

Washington Nationals - Curse of Youppi. The day that the Nationals introduced a new mascot, they have been dismal at home.

[Swiss]

San Francisco Giants - Curse of the Clear- Barry and Balco soiled this franchise for a generation.

Man, this is a lousy curse!!!

The "real curse" is the Curse of Coogan's Bluff.

This curse originates when the New York Giants left for California at the end of the 1957 season. Fans at the Giant's home ballpark, the Polo Grounds (located at a site in New York called Coogan's Bluff), professed that the Giants would never win a World Series away from New York. Since the 1958 season, the Giants have failed to win the Fall Classic, despite the near-misses of 1962 and 2002, and the 4-game sweep at the hands of Oakland in 1989.

(From Wikipedia)

But I don't believe in curses... there is only bad baseball and/or bad management. Whatever, GO JINTS!!!

New York Mets curse of #1 at the end of the 1988 season the Mets introduced a #1 logo, at that time they were a 100 win team and on the way to the World Series, all they had to do was beat the Dodgers who they were 11-1 against. The #1 was unveiled the Dodgers won in seven the Mets have not had the same magic ever since.

And the 1999 World Series? Well, the Mets lost but they reached there.

[Swiss]

Hey, read it, there's more from the SF Giants...

Reversing the Curse?

Are the Giants cursed? Does one of baseball's most storied franchises have its own Curse of the Bambino to exorcise? Well, it has been over fifty years since their last World Series title (only the Indians and Cubbies have longer droughts) and something I heard a few years ago got me thinking.

Way, waaaay back when, almost 100 years ago, the New York Giants had a utility player named Eddie Grant. In 1917 he volunteered to fight in the Great War (World War I), serving as a captain in the 77th Division (New York National Guard--they fought in the Pacific in World War II and became known as the Statue of Liberty Division because of their distinctive shoulder patches). He became the first major leaguer killed in the Great War, in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in the fall of 1918 (the largest offensive undertaken by American forces in that war, BTW).

Eddie Grant with the Giants in 1913 (photo courtesy The Great War Society)

In 1921 the Giants honored his sacrifice by placing a plaque out in center field of the Polo Grounds (I'm told you can see it in some of the shots of The Catch). There it hung until 1957, when the Giants came to Baghdad by the Bay. Supposedly Horace Stoneham promised that the plaque would hang in the Giants' new park out West, but it disappeared (perhaps looted) after the last game at the Polo Grounds and was never seen again. And every Giants fan knows the story of the team's postseason futility since then: 1962, 1971, 1987, 1989, 1993, 1997, 2000, 2002, 2003 . . . .

According to the Great War Society, they approached the Giants back in 2001 about righting this old wrong and putting the plaque up at Big Phone Company Park but "The current managing general partner [Peter Magowan?], however, declined replacing it on the basis that those were the New York Giants, not the San Francisco Giants." Hmmmmm.

Now this morning as I was fighting the traffic on Sir Francis Drake, I heard Pat Gallagher on the KNBR morning show talking about this very curse, and how the Giants, after an exhaustive search for the real plaque, commissioned an exact replica which now hangs near the elevator by the Lefty O'Doul Gate at Big Phone Company Park. What's more, Peter Magowan was apparently 100% behind the idea. Very interesting indeed. If he was in fact the one behind the earlier refusal, I wonder what made him change his mind? Maybe Game 6 in 2002 of cursed memory?

Anyway, next time you're at the ballpark, check out the plaque, and remember the sacrifice of Capt. Grant and those like him who gave the last full measure of devotion in all of our wars. And maybe this year the curse, if there really was one, will be broken.

Posted By: David R. Moody (Email) | April 27 2006 at 10:21 AM

Source

[Glover]

I don't think its just the Indians who are cursed...more like the entire city of Cleveland. Haven't won anything since 1964. My entire family jokes around and blames it on my dad...he was born in 64 a few months after the Browns won Clevelands last Championship.

[illwauk]

Milwaukee Brewers - Curse of Bud - ' Nuff said.

The only "Curse of Bud" is that the Brewers were the best-run organization in baseball when Bud ran the show. Starting with the day he became Interim Commish, his daughter started running it into the ground.

You mean the Curse of the Ball And Glove - until they bring that logo back, the Brewers will never win another pennant. Just look - bringing it back just part time, they won the Wild Card.

But, they still haven't won it all... so in the mean time, I say it's the curse of the Seattle Pilots.

You could argue that Milwaukee has a "curse" similar to Phily's based on its city hall (immortalized by the opening credits of Laverne & Shirley... Garry Marshall can go himself, BTW). At the time of its completion, it was the tallest building in the world and nothing in the city was built taller than it until the First Wisconsin Center was completed in 1974... three years after the Bucks NBA title. Since then... nada. Even the Packers, despite Brett Favre and Reggie White being in their prime, couldn't pull it together until they moved all of their games to Lambeau.

Of course you'd have to ignore Marquette's 77 hoops title and all of the minor league hockey and soccer titles its teams have won since then.

I agree with BringBackTheVet though... curses are a fun thing to blame your teams craptacularness on, but shouldn't be taken seriously.

[buzzcut]

The Curse of Curtis Leskanic

[tp49]

San Francisco Giants - Curse of the Clear- Barry and Balco soiled this franchise for a generation.

Man, this is a lousy curse!!!

The "real curse" is the Curse of Coogan's Bluff.

This curse originates when the New York Giants left for California at the end of the 1957 season. [

I mentioned this above.

San Francisco Giants - Curse of the Clear- Barry and Balco soiled this franchise for a generation.

More like the curse of moving to the west coast. They haven't won a series since moving from New York.

[Swiss]

Yeah, but naming it as "the curse of moving to the west coast"... it's a bit dull.

A good curse deserves to have a good, resounding name.

[NoHoJoe]

OK so now Philly has jumped on the "cursed" bandwagon with the silly "curse of Billy Penn" BS. My mother was Philly born and raised and never heard of such a thing. And My Pop if he was still alive would have said "there is no curse, they just stink", my Pop met my Nanny at an A's game in 1919, she sold programs so the old guy new his baseball.

So today I came up with curses for almost all 30 MLB teams...

Baltimore Orioles- Curse of the Cartoon Bird- Record with, 2030-1614 and 2 AL East and 6 AL Crowns and 3 World Championships, Record with out, 2389-2504 with one wild card and one AL East crown.

New York Yankees- Curse of the Moose - Mike Mussina went to the Yankees in 2001 to win a World Series Ring, the Yanks have not won the series since.

Boston Red Sox- Curse of the obnoxious fans. Sox Pats and Celts all won titles the last few years, yea we get it you are the center of the sports world.

Toronto Blue Jays- Curse of the ???

Tampa Rays- Curse of the Boss- King George wanted the Rays to be his other AAA team. The joke may be on him in 2008 and beyond.

Cleveland Indians - Curse of the Cuyahoga- Just 'cause I like the sound of it, and the river has been polluted since the team last one a championship, and maybe even before.

Detroit Tigers- Curse of the Noid. Ever since that Domino's ad campaign the team has not won a WS.

Chicago White Sox- Curse of - Team has not won the WS since he started to run for President.

Kansas City Royals - Curse of the we had our chance in the '70's and '80's

Minnesota Twins - Curse of Kirby- Since he retired the team has not been back to the WS.

Oakland A's - Curse of Al Davis- The A's have not been back to the Series since Al brought the Raiders back to Oakland.

Seattle Mariners- Curse of the Rising Sun - They are owned by Nintendo for gosh sakes!

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim- Curse of the pick a location name and stick with it.

Texas Rangers - The Curse of the Star The only time the team has won anything at all is when a Star has been featured predominately in the logo. Just like the Cowboys and the Stars only star logos win in the Big D.

Atlanta Braves - Curse of Crazy Ted- Crazy Ted is gone and so are the wins.

New York Mets - Curse of Billy Buckner - Only won because of some one else's misfortune.

Philadelphia Phillies - Since the curse of Billy Penn seems to be a media creation. How 'bout the Curse of Hall & Oats

Washington Nationals - Curse of Rusty Staub - The last act of the Expos folk hero was to curse the franchise as the team packed up and moved south.

Florida Marlins - Curse of the fair weather Fans - Not even 2 World Titles in 6 years can put fans in the stands.

Pittsburgh Pirates- Curse of the really bad management since the mid '80's took a once great franchise and drove it into the ground.

Cincinnati Reds- Curse of Marge- The team has not won much since the chain smoking maven sold the team.

Chicago Cubs- Curse of the Billy Goat or If we ever win it all what else will ESPN have to talk about in September.

St. Louis Cardinals- Curse of Inbev - The Cards will not win much as long as AB is owned by Inbev.

Houston Astros - Curse of Astroturf - The team that gave us plastic grass on cement. No titles for you!

Milwaukee Brewers - Curse of Bud - ' Nuff said.

San Francisco Giants - Curse of the Clear- Barry and Balco soiled this franchise for a generation.

San Diego Padres - Curse of Brown - no team in baseball that had brown as a color has ever won the WS. Then again only 2 ever wore brown. The Padres and the Browns.

Los Angeles Dodgers - Curse of the late arriving and early leaving fans. Come late and leave early that is the LA Dodger fan way.

Arizona Diamondbacks - Curse of the "but it's a dry heat"

Colorado Rockies- Curse of the "How can we possibly get quality pitching at this altitude."

Toronto- the curse of Geddy Lee not siting behind home plate a majority the past two seasons!

[oo_nrb]

Colorado Rockies- Curse of the "How can we possibly get quality pitching at this altitude."

There are quality pitchers that come out of the Colorado youth baseball system. Trouble is, none of them want to play for the Rockies . No, I believe that the purple pinstripers are cursed with the Curse of Really Freakin' Poor Ownership and Management. The Monforts are two of the worst owners in baseball, who have made incredibly bone-headed moves. The way they managed to squander the goodwill of the fans after Rocktober proves it. First they screwed the fans with online-only WS ticketing, then they told O'Dowd to sit on his laurels in the offseason, and then they completely and totally botched nearly everything that had to do with 2008 Opening Day. The 2007 Rockies are incredibly reminiscent of the 1997 Marlins, only the Rockies don't have rings for their troubles.

Err, um...yeah. [/rant]. Good clever curses for the other teams, though .

[JQK]

The Cubs curse should be the Curse of Fred Merkle.